Hansis told AfterElton in an interview last year: "As far as playing a gay character, it's nothing that I've ever had any negative feelings about. I love my character. In the end, I'm really glad they made my character gay. I'm able to do so much more than the average soap guy gets to do...One of the really interesting things when the speculation started that Luke was going to come out of the closet was the audience was saying on some of the message boards, “I'm not going to watch this show anymore”. Then after the story line got going and people got into it and people thought the show was going to backpedal and make Luke bi or straight, again that's when the fans again said no, no, no. He should be gay."

Comments

This story line has been handled superbly on this daytime soap, and Van Hansis' acting is terrific. He deserves the Emmy nomination. At the moment the gay story line is fairly dormant (and As The World Turns is pre-empted until next Monday because of sports).

Posted by: phil | Mar 15, 2007 10:30:47 AM

Congratulations to Van!! Here's hoping TPTB recognize that they have a great actor and a great character here and give him a love interest soon!

Posted by: Joseph | Mar 15, 2007 10:31:15 AM

Is this the current end of the storyline?

I hope there's already more that's been aired. Otherwise I'll have to find the 50 seconds of the Luke Snyder segments each week (out of 5 hours of other twisty plotlines and ads) to follow along. The comilation looked awesome.

Anyone know if there's more storyline yet and where to find it?

Posted by: tjc | Mar 15, 2007 10:42:07 AM

TJC - You can see much of the story so far by searching google video or YouTube for "Van Hansis." For example, there is a 65-minute collection of clips here:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=925089252496158171
This collection begins earlier than the clip here on Towleroad, contains more of the middle, and continues on farther as well, to the point where Luke saves Kevin's life in a near-drowning accident, and Kevin accepts Luke as being gay.

There has been anywhere from zero minutes to about 5 minutes per week (out of 5 hours) of Luke's story, and nothing much recently. The big developments already seem to have happened, and you can find them by searching google video and YouTube.

Posted by: alan | Mar 15, 2007 11:07:59 AM

I am a big As the World Turns fan and have really enjoyed Van's storyline, which has recently died down a lot, but they recently had the character talk to his father about finding a boyfriend, so perhaps they are going to bring someone on soon to play that role.

I wish more had been written about him and his character in Blogs while his storyline was going on last summer.

I started watching the show because of this storyline, but they have pushed Luke and Kevin to the background lately. There are rumors that when the summer kicks in and more younger viewers are watching, then they will pick it back up again. Let's hope so.

Posted by: downtownLA | Mar 15, 2007 11:19:55 AM

Thanks guys.

Posted by: tjc | Mar 15, 2007 11:23:01 AM

He's actually a pretty good actor. I don't really watch the show, but I'm interested in the storyline. If the aired more about it and I knew when the show was, I'd probably watch it sometimes (even though I'm not into soaps).

Congratulations on the Emmy nod, but really this is some awful acting. Yikes.

Posted by: hoya86 | Mar 15, 2007 12:43:23 PM

Ouch...deja vu. I don't think I could watch this on a regular basis...seeing Edge of Seventeen was so traumatic I started smoking again after seeing it.

Congratulations on the Emmy Nomination.

(PS...compared to some of the tripe we're exposed to in gay-themed cinema, the acting is quite stellar).

Posted by: Steve | Mar 15, 2007 1:17:01 PM

Thanks, Andy, and Alan L for putting together the reel. I was most impressed by two things [no, not the teen nipples—that would have been four things]. One, the addressing of stereotypes and then shooting them down one-by-one, for the too rarely heard truth that being gay hasn't nothing intinsically with them. And, two, the dramatization that coming out is less like a single act to the world, than an unfolding flower, opening petal by petal. Straight women, the primary audience, of course, for daytime soaps are the advance army for social change. Bravo to all concerned.

Posted by: Leland | Mar 15, 2007 1:40:55 PM

Ooops, make that, "...for the too rarely heard truth that being gay has nothing intinsically to do with [stereotypes]."

Posted by: Leland | Mar 15, 2007 1:43:08 PM

I think this is WONDERFUL!

The new generation of gays who are young now will be able to see themselves, and realize that it's OK to be true to themselves.

Posted by: FunMe | Mar 15, 2007 1:52:09 PM

His Emmy nomination, and if he wins, will surely motivate the shot to greatly increase his storyline on the show.

This was sweet, but boy, the bar for award-winning acting in soaps is way low!

Posted by: anon | Mar 15, 2007 2:17:09 PM

Aww, he's adorable.

Posted by: Jordan | Mar 15, 2007 2:22:35 PM

ATWT is a shadow of its former self. Perhaps this story was good around the time of the coming out, as All My Children was with the Susan Lucci character's daughter. Anon is right about the bar being so low though. This guy will never win, as he has better competition. It'll be a LONG time before Luke gets to kiss, let alone screw another guy. The mere hint of it will probably signal a downplaying of the relationship or a removal of the character entirely.

Posted by: 000000 | Mar 15, 2007 3:01:13 PM

Van is a charming, talented, charismatic actor and I hope he wins. These scenes were very well done.

Posted by: bill | Mar 15, 2007 3:43:08 PM

Thanks Andy for sharing this... I'm sure that my parents know I am gay -- but they refuse to acknowledge it... they just don't talk about it, and never ask about my boyfriend. My mother watches ATWT... I had no idea about this storyline. Maybe it will help open their eyes.
Thanks Alan for giving the link to the longer version too. I am a sucker for this kind of stuff because it has always hit home.